JonDavid (JD) Wyneken
Assistant Professor of History
Contact
Department of Humanities
Concordia University
jwyneken@cu-portland.edu
Education
- Ph.D., Ohio University, 2007
- M.A., University of Nebraska, 1999
- B.A., Humboldt State University, 1996
Academic and Personal Background
Dr. JonDavid (J.D.) Wyneken received his B.A. in History from Humboldt State University (CA) in 1996. He completed his M.A. in American History at the University of Nebraska in 1999. He then began work on his Ph.D. in Modern European History at Ohio University, where he was also a Graduate Fellow in the Contemporary History Institute. In 2003-2004, Dr. Wyneken received a year-long fellowship from the Baker Peace Studies Foundation. This award funded extensive dissertation research trips to Washington, D.C., Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. In May 2004, while still writing his dissertation, Dr. Wyneken accepted an offer to join the faculty at Concordia University. He completed his Ph.D. in June 2007.
Dr. Wyneken teaches European and World History courses in Modern Germany, Modern Russia, Modern Asia, and the Modern Middle East. He also teaches surveys in Modern Europe and Humanities general education courses. He has also taught courses on Totalitarianism, the Holocaust, European Film, and the History of Baseball. He is very active in the One Voice club and in advocacy for relief of HIV / AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa. In his spare time, he enjoys sports, film, reading, music, travel, and cooking.
Research Interests
Dr. Wyneken’s research interests focus on the International History of the 20th Century, Modern Germany, Modern Russia, and Modern Pacific Asia. He also studies the effects of religious thought on international relations. He is greatly interested in the study of historical memory and international law. His dissertation, Driving Out the Demons: German Churches, the Western Allies, and the Internationalization of the Nazi Past, 1945-1952 focuses on the important but tempestuous relations between Allied officials and German religious leaders during the occupation of Germany. Dr. Wyneken is adapting the study into a book manuscript. He has published an article on the German Protestant Churches and the postwar War Crimes Trials and is currently finishing several other articles and essays on denazification, historical memory in international relations, and the end of living memory of the Second World War. Dr. Wyneken is a member of the German Studies Association, the American Historical Association, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and the Association of Contemporary Church Historians.